Archive for the ‘DS’ Category
Animal Crossing Corrupting Japanese Youth at Local School
A while back I was sitting in the teachers’ lounge drinking a nice cup of green tea, an announcement came over the PA system. As usual I and the other teachers tuned it out, as these announcements are pretty much the same thing every day. Then I heard something I was not expecting, the words “Doubutsu no Mori” or as we know it “Animal Crossing”. Now I started listening.
The Real Cooking Mamas
A lot of people look at cooking games like “Cooking Mama” and wonder how such a thing could even get made. But living in Japan for the last few years a find myself asking the question, “Why aren’t there more of them?”
The Butt Biting Bug
Want to know what’s cool for little kids in Japan? Right now it’s a bug that likes biting people in the butt. This Oshiri Kajiri Mushi (Butt Biting Bug) is the star of a song that hit the top 10 in Japan and became an instant children’s classic (until the next one comes along). The song is crazy but insanely catchy.
Many of my students, both boys and girls, have pencils, notebooks, toys, erasers, etc. with this guy’s image on them. And if there is a class with students I just can’t seem to connect to, sometimes I will sing a few lines of this song and just watch their faces like up. “Teacher knows Oshiri Kajiri Mushi, he must be cool!” Because to a six year old, there really is nothing cooler than this.
This bottom fixated insect is also the star of a DS game that I can’t even imagine what the gameplay goals might be.. never mind, I think I have a pretty good idea. I will try to get a copy to see what it is all about.
The other day I was at a convenience store and I saw the Oshiri Kajiri Mushi on a package in the snack food aisle. The product was called “Oshiri Pie” in Japanese, which literally means “Butt Pie”! In what country other than Japan does that sound like something you would want to eat? Yeah, I bought some.
Famicom Dojo: Microphone Roundup
It’s finally here! The first of the last two episodes of Season 1.
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Famicom Dojo - Episode 05 - Microphone Roundup
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Famicom Dojo: Microphone Roundup @ Powet.TV
It’s been far too long since our last new episode. In order to make sure we don’t make that mistake again
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Embarrassing Japanese Error and Disturbing Game Idea
While my Japanese may be getting better the longer I live in this country it is still far from perfect. This fact has often led me to some very embarrassing language mistakes. This latest one was pretty amusing and I thought I would share it.
In Japan there is a very popular game for the Nintendo DS handheld system. In the West it is known as “Animal Crossing”. The Japanese name is “Doubutsu no Mori”. This basically translates to “Animal’s Forest”. I was talking about this game with one of my students and I said it a bit wrong. I didn’t even notice the error at first until the student shuddered for a second and then began laughing. You see instead of “DOUbutsu no Mori” I said “DAIbutsu no Mori”. Find out why that is funny by clicking below.
